There is a trend towards increasingly large passenger aircraft, for which it is desirable to have correspondingly large wing spans. However, the maximum aircraft span is effectively limited by airport operating rules which govern various clearances required when manoeuvring around the airport (such as the span and/or ground clearance required for gate entry and safe taxiway usage).
Therefore, moveable wing tip devices have been introduced into passenger aircraft, where a wing tip device is movable between a flight configuration for use during flight, and a ground configuration for use during ground-based operations. In the ground configuration, the wing tip device is moved away from the flight configuration such that the span of the aircraft wing is reduced, thereby allowing use of existing gates and safe taxiway usage.
A known type of moveable wing tip device is a swing wing tip device. The term ‘swing’ wing tip device is typically used when the axis of rotation extends in a direction normal to the plane of the wing, and hence the wing tip device rotates within the plane of the wing. An example of a known swing wing tip system is described in US 2015/0097087. In that arrangement, the fixed wing includes a moveable panel, such as a folding door, at the rear of the wing. The movable panel is folded up prior to the swing wing tip device rotating rearwardly, thereby avoiding clashing between the swing wing tip device and the fixed wing.
Such an arrangement has been found to be relatively complex because it requires actuation of ancillary components (e.g. the movable panel), when the wing tip device is moved.
The present invention seeks to reduce or mitigate the above-mentioned drawback.